Commies are all cheats I knew it all along. To quote a famous American patriot.

"I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion and the international Communist conspiracy
to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids." General Jack D. Ripper.

Individuals exposed to socialism were twice as likely to cheat as those who had not been in a socialist system, says a new study from a
collaboration between Duke University and the University of Munich. "The longer individuals were exposed to socialism, the more likely they were to
cheat on our task."

Researchers compared 259 participants' willingness to lie and cheat by playing a simple game that could earn them $8. Every game player was asked to
throw a pair of dice 40 times and record every roll of the dice on paper. Those with the highest tallies would have the highest payoff. Players had to
commit to write down the number on either the top or the bottom of the dice. Since they didn't have to say which side they had chosen, it was easy to
cheat by rolling the dice and then pretending the higher number was the side they had chosen.

The Economist says:

Honest participants would be expected to roll ones, twos and threes as often as fours, fives and sixes. But that did not happen: the sheets handed in
had a suspiciously large share of high numbers, suggesting many players had cheated.

After the game, participants wrote down where they grew up, and for how long they had lived there. Those who grew up in East Germany were twice as
likely to cheat as those who grew up in capitalism in West Germany. And, the longer someone had lived in East Germany, the more likely they were to
lie about the result of their dice rolls.

"We interpret our findings as evidence that the political regime of socialism has a lasting impact on citizens' basic morality," say the study's
authors Ariely, Garcia-Rada, Hornuf and Mann.

"We interpret our findings as evidence that the political regime of socialism has a lasting impact on citizens' basic morality," say the study's
authors Ariely, Garcia-Rada, Hornuf and Mann.

This isn't so much a "My ideology is better than your ideology". This should just point out that no matter the lofty goals of ANY ideology, human
nature, being what it is, still defines us as a species.

As always, read, reply, ignore, or move to Texas and hunt the Chubacabra. It's entirely up to you.

"We interpret our findings as evidence that the political regime of socialism has a lasting impact on citizens' basic morality," say the study's
authors Ariely, Garcia-Rada, Hornuf and Mann.

Given the authors' rhetoric, I'd like a little more info on the 259 participants before I could take this seriously. Actually I'd need a LOT more info
than just I'm from East Germany or I'm from West Germany.

To refer to the economic system of East Germany as Socialism is a disgrace to the term Socialism. So this study got off on the wrong foot to begin
with. I'd have more confidence in the results if they conducted the study on a bunch of Norwegians vs. a bunch of New Yorkers.

"We interpret our findings as evidence that the political regime of socialism has a lasting impact on citizens' basic morality," say the study's
authors Ariely, Garcia-Rada, Hornuf and Mann.

How funny!

I feel like I am the only one that noticed morality depends upon culture?

The french will also makes such silly statements about the extreme capitalism in the US causing moral degradation there, because people don't
hesitate to use a gun and kill another person who just happens to come unto their lawn.

The morality is different in different systems! Judging peoples in a different system according to your own, is senseless.

You of course are referring to the credit crunch which is a global affair and not limited to europe but which the European parliament are using to
strip away nation state's social systems in a right wing coup that only benefits the corporations and creates poverty striken people to work on
subsistance wage's.
I will warrent communism was wrong and an evil system but we in britain where doing just dandy until the spin doctor's got to work and the druggies
and immigrant's such as romanians started to milk our system (as the pakistani community had done for some time) and overburdened it.
Our system was no property of the labour party of for them to allow foreigners to claim, it was founded as was our social housing for the returning
soldiers who had fought in the second world war and they EARNED IT for themselves and there children.
I personally do not see a rich man as more valuable than a poor man and by the way neither does God.
The rich SHOULD pay there taxes as after all there wealth was made off of the economy, Lord's and Lady's especially as they are litterally
descended from thug's and gangsters with a group of heavy's in many cases who stole the land they claim is there's from the people who were already
on it.
Government should pay tax money out to subsidise industry and help it to compete with cheep labour market's, so providing Job's.

The other problem we had in the UK stem's back to the 1980's when the then government abolished a law requiring wages to keep pace with inflation
but that right wing government also did not abolish the same link on welfare so the welfare which was worth about a quarter to a third of the wage
(Wage drives economy and consumerism so paying employees poorly is bad economics but does favour a class based system in society) after twenty years
was worth as much as the wages in the lower paid job's which led to lifestyle choice of not working and choosing to live on benefit's as well as the
legend being spread in foreign country's of how the british were stupid so let's go live there and claim there benefit's while we work on the
side.

But priot to the corruption of our system that then ensued from the 1980's onward our system did most certainly NOT promote social degradation,
indeed it was built to improve social standards and up to that point with proper government that put it's own people first it worked very well
indeed, after the 1980's changes though class system resurfaced it's ugly head with foreign immigrant's moving into the poorest area's of the UK
(Except london that is no longer even an English city with the british now the minority occupants of that city).

A lot of you have ideas but no experience and I can tell you that you are talking through your hat when it come's to democratic socialism, but I
would probably agree when it comes to communism.

there you go... connecting the dots....
all the drug cartels are entering the USA & being shipped to cities, towns to establish drug distribution systems, courtesy of the Socialist Obama
Regime

the CIA. et al. wants to make a profit on the destruction of the American middle-class society as they all subscum to Moral Degeneracy from the
oppressive IRS/ACA/part-time service careers/mandated Muslim studies

they are not destructing America they are Transforming the place into a crack haven dystopia for the masses
wilst the top 5% lord over us walking organ banks

They didn't really need to do a large study,and spend a dime to come to this conclusion.
I've been living on a self-proclaimed People's Socialist Revolution where being honest and trying to do things "right" will make you want to kill
yourself. There is no justice,no morals,no ethics. Only butt-kissing, barely legal activities and having no respect for the law or anything else will
get you a car,house and some money to feed your family.

Otherwise you'll end up a 25 year old loser, with a degree that's only good for wiping your butt since TP is scarce, and doing 2-6 hour lines at the
supermarket to buy mayonnaise,butter and other basic stuff. While there' speople around with cars worth 25.000 times what you make in a month,
traveling around the world 2 times a year for at least a month working 5 days a week and you have no job/life opportunities.You have to make do with
a minimum wage that is about 40% of what you'd spend at the supermarket that would last barely a couple weeks, if you didn't spend a dime on
anything else, not even a beer.

Also, can't afford tickets to get out. Can't make short or long term plans because in a couple months everything costs 300% more than what you had
planned. And don't get me started on my countries signature socialist achievement: CRIME AND MAFIAS. Of course ,you could also put on a red shirt and
do more and more lines to get the crumbs the government gives away.

But hey, we're free from the evil claws of american imperialism, thumbs up,put your red shirt and beret and enjoy.
It's difficult to explain to people who think they're doing worse than you because their life is boring. Let me tell you peole something: I wish my
life was boring, i wish i could do something as simple as going to work all week, and lay back on the weekends, i wish i had some leftover money after
i buy basic groceries to buy something to really enjoy,something that would really be called a luxury like a bottle of wine, a weekly pizza day, a
nice computer to play a video game. I wish i could just go do my laundry in peace,but i can't . because i'm living on 3 hours of water a day that
are not enough to take a refreshing shower, do my laundry,wash my dishes and refill empty drinkable water bottles. On top of this we also have random
blackouts that can come and go several times a day and last from 10min to 6 hours, sometimes appliances (scarce and expensive ones) are kaputt because
of this.

I think i'm going to stop now, i hope somebody got my point, but this is ATS, so i'm probably a CIA agent who got paid to write this stuff right?

I can't help but turn bak to this subject, because like I already stated, the country I am in is more socialist on a spectrum than the one I came
from, and there is a lot I have come to understand from that slight difference that I think is not easy to grasp at first look!

Also along the theme of "feminine" type of system, human relations are valued higher than objects.

There is the aspect of individual merit being meaningless compared to the quality of your human interactions.

Getting a raise or even getting your foot in the door depends upon that, not what you have done (experience, diplomas...). Getting a good price on
things, or services, depends upon that.

A person must spend time chatting with the baker when buying bread, to construct a relationship of trust. Networking is essential- it is THE key. If
you do not work on that, you can forget getting anywhere.

If you make a faux pas, piss off someone, or god help you, give the impression of being "in your own bubble" (independant) you can quickly find
yourself cut off from all interactions! The word gets around town quickly.

It's all part of the peer pressure thing, to conform to the collectively held morals.

A while ago, we noticed that we stopped receiving mail. Even when we had package, the mail man left a note for us to go get it at the post office,
rather than go up to our door, where I was home (and my car was out front and visible- it was obvious someone was home).

When I went to the post office to get it, I asked the teller why we weren't getting our mail, and why he doesn't come to the door. He shrugged and
said, "Perhaps you need to talk to the mail man and see what he says, what the problem is." The message was evident- you have a relational problem.
You may have done something, somewhere, that pissed him off, or that he heard about and has decided you are a bad person.

I was frustrated that this was not viewed as someone doing their job badly, but rather as someone doing their moral duty as a citizen. Turned out it
was another case of someone feeling jealous that we have a jet fighter in our front yard, and being quite visible as "different" in our town. This is
a no-no in this culture- you're being a show off to make others feel bad. You are being ethically corrupt and insensitive to those around you. You are
thinking more about your own pleasure than the good of the whole.

My american way of obeying my boss and trying to do the best work possible was also seen as ethically corrupt, and caused me much grief- it is seen as
lacking a sense of solidarity with my co-workers.

This is what I mean by judging moral de-generacy as being relative! There is two different ways to look at the same exact situation or behavior.
Theirs has just as much value! We could call it ass kissing- they would call it constructing relational bonds with others. We hold high the individual
who is self centered and ambitious, they prefer the individual who is highly conscious of those around him, taking time to interact with the
individuals and care about their feelings and thoughts.

IQ is less valuable than EQ.
If playing a board game, the important thing is who you cheat, not if you cheat.
This study, if I understood correctly didn't pit individuals against each other. If they were gambling with others at the table, it would be
acceptable (in unsaid terms) to cheat and steal from the dealer, or from other players that have a reputation for being egotistical. But not the ones
who have shown to be likeable to their peers, making people laugh or feel good.

Lucky for me, my husband has a very high Emotional Quotient, and knows how to play this game, to balance his (and my) taste for individual expression
and ambition. We are always teetering between being socially rejected and seducing the people to let us slide this time because they find us congenial
and caring.

The Above Top Secret Web site is a wholly owned social content community of The Above Network, LLC.

This content community relies on user-generated content from our member contributors. The opinions of our members are not those of site ownership who maintains strict editorial agnosticism and simply provides a collaborative venue for free expression.